PDA

View Full Version : My House Rules


Knight of Roses
12th October 2004, 05:43 PM
These are all from my current campaign, the Sea of Stars, which is a consciously high magic world.

Sea of Stars - House Rules

In no particular order, yet.

Alignment-
No alignments, though some beings and classes may be aligned with certain powers.

Classes-
All classes have Listen (Wis) and Spot (Wis) as class skills.
The following Knowledge skills: Astronomy, Local, Myths and Legends, and Politics are class skills for all characters.

Barbarians add Heal (Wis) and Profession (Wis) to their list of class skills.

Bards add Handle Animal (Cha) and Ride (Dex) to class skills.

Clerics add Gather Information (Cha) and Sense Motive (Wis) to their list of class skills.

Druids add Gather Information (Cha), Knowledge (religion) (Int) and Sense Motive (Wis) to their list of class skills.

Fighters add Heal (Wis), Knowledge (military) (Int), Knowledge (nobility and royalty) (Int), Perform (weapon drill) (Cha) and Profession (Wis) to their list of class skills.

Monks add Heal (Wis) to their class skills.

Paladins add Intimidate (Cha), Knowledge (military) (Int) and Perform (weapon drill) (Cha) to their list of class skills.

Rangers the Favored Enemy ability is unacceptably wide and needs to be narrowed in scope, for example: Arcane Spellcaster, Eosiante Citizens, Ruby Dwaves or Steppe Animals are all acceptable favored enemy types.


Rogues, gain the following class ability:
Right Skill for the Job: at 2nd level and each six levels (8th, 14th, and 20th) thereafter the rogue may choose one skill that is then treated as a class skill for her Rogue levels in all ways.
Specialized Knowledge: at 5th level and every five levels achieved (10th, 15th and 20th), the rogue may choose one Knowledge skill that is treated as a class skill for her Rogue levels in all ways.

Sorcerers, may choose to not take a familiar at 1st level and instead gain a bonus feat.
Sorcerers gain eschew materials as a bonus feat at 1st level.
Sorcerer add Intimidate (Cha) and Perform (Cha) to their list of class skills.
May choose to use the variant Sorcerer class from the Book of Eldritch Might, skills remain changed as above and may choose not to have a familiar and gain a bonus feat instead.

Wizard, may choose to not take a familiar at 1st level and instead gain a bonus feat.
Wizards add Gather Information (Cha) to their list of class skills.

Skills-
Concentration- The following penalties apply to any defensive casting check.
+2 DC for each enemy who threatens the caster beyond the first.
+1 DC if any threatening enemy has 2 ranks of Spellcraft, increased to +3 if any threatening enemy has 5 or more ranks of Spellcraft.

Knowledge Skills: add the following:
• Astronomy, study of the celestial objects and their relationships.
• Dragons, lore and secrets of those most powerful of beings.
• Forbidden, secrets man was not meant to know. [Can only be gained with DM’s permission.]
• Military, organization, tactics and such.
• Myths and Legends, the grand stories of the past, some of which may even be true.
• Philosophy, understanding of the world.
• Politics, who and what is in power, what games are being played and by whom.
• The planes, does not exist as a common skill.

Heal- New skill use:
Battlefield Medicine- Takes one minute, on a successful DC 15 heal check heals 1 points +1 for each 3 points the DC is exceeded by. A treatment of a wound must be begin within 5 minutes of taking it. Only one battlefield medicine check may be made on a person in any hour.
Lack of a healer’s kit add +5 to the DC.
Poor conditions adds +1-10 to the DC.
A clean and warm room reduces gives a +1 circumstance bonus to the battlefield medicine check, a first aid station +3 and a hospital +5.
Note: A healer’s kit does not provide any bonuses for a battlefield medicine check, but it does negate penalties. A masterwork healer’s kit provides a +2 equipment bonus on a battlefield medicine checks but costs 100 and 40 to restock.
A healer’s kit provides enough supplies for ten battlefield medicine or first aid checks. Restocking a healer’s kit costs 25.

New skill synergies
5 or more skill ranks in . . . Gives a +2 bonus on . . .
Knowledge (astronomy) Survival checks to avoid becoming lost (if the stars can be seen)
Knowledge (dragons) Diplomacy checks with dragons
Knowledge (myth and legends) Perform (storytelling)
Knowledge (politics) Gather Information

Languages
Universal . . . . . Ancient and Dead Languages
Low Draconic . . . . . High Giant
Imperial Tongue (by region) . . . . . Rune

Racial . . . . . Regional . . . . . Other
High Draconic* . . . . .Emiri . . . . . Sailor’s Argot
Dwarven (by clan) . . . . . Eosiante . . . . . Weapon-Sworn
Elfin (by family) . . . . . Sheth
Sen’tek . . . . . Yu

*High Draconic is such a complex language that it takes 2 language choices to master.

Feats-
Power Attack- When used with a two-handed weapon, functions as a Strength bonus with each -1 to attack adding +1.5 to damage (rounded down). This bonus combines with the users Strength bonus. i.e. A fighter with a Strength of 13 using a two-handed sword, takes a -1 penalty to attack with Power Attack, his damage bonus with that blow is +3 (+1 for Str, +1 for Power Attack x 1.5 = +3).

Spells and Magic-
No magic missile. No miracle.

The animal enhancement spells (bear’s endurance, bull’s strength and so on) can be cast in any of three ways:
+2 enhancement bonus to the statistic, duration 1 hour/level.
+4 enhancement bonus to the statistic, duration 1 minute/level.
+6 enhancement bonus to the statistic, duration 1 round/level.
With the exception of bear’s endurance which has the following choices when cast on one’s self:
+4 enhancement bonus to Constitution, duration 1 hour/level.
+6 enhancement bonus to Constitution, duration 1 minute/level.

Any teleportation type spell that attempts to cross the space between the islands has a much higher chance of failure, unless the point being transited to is in direct physical line of sight.

The only spells that bring people back from the dead are raise dead (now 9th level) reincarnation (now 8th level) or wish. For any of these spells to be effective it must be cast within 1 day + 1 hour per caster level following the death of the individual in question.
Dragonkine cannot be brought back from the dead by any divine means.

Barrok
13th October 2004, 03:09 PM
I do like the fact that its harder to raise a party member from the dead,p so many times when through sheer foolishness someone ends up dead the party feels obligated to spend money on raising them. I do like that and also that because you have broken away from the alignment system Monks can do anything instead of being Lawful all the time (a big personal gripe of mine - evene though sometimes I can defend alignments, well when I'm feeling contrary)

Knight of Roses
13th October 2004, 04:01 PM
Well, there are times and places for the D&D alignment system, by the Sea of Stars is not one of them. That is not to say that their is not evil (or even Evil) in the setting, just that the Law-Chaos / Good-Evil axis is a very poor way of understanding this world (or most fantasy worlds for that matter).

The restrictions on bringing people back from the dead have two parts:
1) Setting, the gods are dead. No one knows what happens to someone after they die.

2) Game rules, I hate easy access to bringing people back to life, it encourages sloppy roleplay and makes it too easy to fudge certain things. Beside, when was the last time someone was brought back to life in you favorite fantasy novel?

One of the current characters in my game is a Monk/Rogue who is aiming for the Drunken Master PrC.

Tiernon
13th October 2004, 04:11 PM
Beside, when was the last time someone was brought back to life in you favorite fantasy novel?[/b]

I DO agree with your point fully KoR, but there was at least one time - Durnik from the Belgariad series by David/Leigh Eddings was brought back to life. But to prove your point, it took 5 gods, Belgarion (the child of light, god slayer and disciple of Aldur) and the Orb of Aldur (the most powerful weapon in the universe) PLUS Polgara seemingly had to give up her powers to bring him back to life.

In anyone's book, that's a pretty hefty undertaking - and was only allowed because Belgarion killed Torak and set the universe right again.

That's the only time I remember a good character in a major book being brought back to life, and it wasn't done lightly (hell, it was planned and hinted at from the beginning anyways)

Knight of Roses
13th October 2004, 04:18 PM
Exactly, it was the end of a great quest. I do not mind that, if the players/characters want to undertake a grand quest to bring someone back from the dead, I am all about DMing that set of adventures.

But I never want it to be, "Gee, Hawkwind bit it, do we have the gold to get him raised? Again." in my campaign.

ladyraven7
13th October 2004, 05:27 PM
looks great but......
*glances through the classes closely*
Hey theres no mention of rangers...are there no rangers in your campian world?

Knight of Roses
13th October 2004, 05:33 PM
There certainly are, it is just that they did not need any changes, though I suppose I should note on there that I do favored enemies differently. Thanks, LR, I will make that change and update the information.

Knight of Roses
7th August 2006, 09:10 PM
Because Arcane magic is empowered by the Dragon, while Divine magic has been quoshed. Thus Wish exists but no Miracle.

Magic Missile do not get me started on Magic Missile . . . Suffice to say, I feel it is too good and I have removed it from my campaign.

Thank you, they have worked well so far . . .

aussiegamer
8th August 2006, 01:59 AM
maybe changing MM to range touch would bring it back to earth.

The extra 8 class skills seem excessive for rogues IHMO.

I don't see why sorcerers need intimidate as a class skill, but maybe thats just me.

I like the heal skill changes

Knight of Roses
8th August 2006, 04:13 AM
The extra skills for rogue may be excessive, after all, it is not like they do not have enough skills to spend their points on already . . . *wink*

Intimidate for sorcerers? Because magic is scary! And it combos well with their high Cha.

The Heal changes were needed. The second campaign I ran had no divine spell-casters at all! I needed to do something to help them stay alive. Though, in all honesty, it was something I had planned to add anyway.

aussiegamer
8th August 2006, 04:30 AM
The extra skills for rogue may be excessive, after all, it is not like they do not have enough skills to spend their points on already . . . *wink*[/b]

thats true and thus the CC taking up a lot of those extra points. Maybe 2 instead of 8 would be fair but that many class skills seems excessive to me.

Intimidate for sorcerers? Because magic is scary! And it combos well with their high Cha.[/b]

OK??? But if magic is scary then have wizards got Intim as well, what about all the rest of the casters?

And yes it does combo well, there are plently of skills that are CC for lots of classes that combo well as well.

The Heal changes were needed. The second campaign I ran had no divine spell-casters at all! I needed to do something to help them stay alive. Though, in all honesty, it was something I had planned to add anyway.
[/b]
It is something that modern used, still its a great idea, as I feel heal skill is under used any way.

Gryphon
8th August 2006, 04:41 PM
I like the skill changes....in truth I may even adopt some of them Knowlege (politics) should probably come under nobility....or as a replacement for royalty and nobility in a world less fuedal and more democratic.
Knowlege (nobility and royalty) for a fighter, not sure about that perhaps it depends on their background. If they are a grunt it would be more apt to have (local) than this. They know the seedy side of life much better than the royal court. But that is just me being pedantic.
For the favoured enemies, yeah I did exactly the same.
The sorcy...well I JUST use montes EM sorcy...the bard doesn't work well though so I don't use EM bard.
Your magic changes I will pass on as your alignment stuff...not for me...but I understand where you are coming from
On the last issue I simply don't tell them it is barred. The understanding is if it is YOUR deity you may get raised...if not you won't. Most of the deities are trapped outside the world anyway so can't really do anything to help their worshipers. I seperated the world from the cosmos, and all dead souls are in stasis trapped in Limbo...and magic is soul energy. The longer you are dead and in limbo the less likely you are to survive, as the soul energy is used up. It means that no new souls are created too...so it is reincarnation time anyway.
It meant no connection to astral plane, no ethereal travel etc. Bit of a pain sometimes as a result, no summoning monsters no celestial beings etc...except what were trapped when the world was sealed, pain in the ars to DM but it was a nice idea.

Knight of Roses
8th August 2006, 06:11 PM
Aussiegamer:

I will stick to my gun on the thieves skill expansion, it allows for highwaymen, specialized con-men, and a variety of character types that the rogue is suppose to represent. The rogue is, after all, the catch-all class, this just gives it some extra flexability. (And ask any player of a rogue if he had enough skill points to buy what he or she wanted for their character and they will say "no", so giving them more class skills is rather a curse of options).

Sorcerers with intimidate and Wizards without, different roles in this world. A wizard knows magic, a sorcerer is magic, and that is intimidating. I have had other campaign where being a sorcerer was a thing to be feared, and I gave them Disguise and Slight of Hand as class skills. Sorcerer should be shaped by their role in the campaign world.

Gryphon:

Politics is different while similar to N&R, I will ponder on how I view them and write later as my mind does not want to give up that data right now.

Fighters already get Know: Local (everyone does), N&R will often be the people they are working for or wish to aspire to become.

Interesting world idea there.

Gryphon
8th August 2006, 09:22 PM
Everyone gets the option of Knowlege (local) huh? ... :?: feeling like a dumbass ... where does it say that. I am going to have to re-read the thing top to bottom, but I just can't find the reference in the PHB or DMG to hand.

Having said that I thought charge provoked an AoO so I am well and truly fallible.

The world was Karanblade...and we won an ENNie for it in 2002...a 2e incarnation...never had the resources to convert it completely though to 3e in english, so the've done it in Portugese. So it better be a good setting.

Link --> HERE (http://dndworld.com/kbd20/) <--

Watch the intro...sigh I wish I had the resources to finish the english version.

Sunfist
14th August 2006, 09:27 PM
Beside, when was the last time someone was brought back to life in you favorite fantasy novel? [/b]
Damn it! Why did you have to say "favorite".

I was about to have some fun answering that question using Dragonlance.

Knight of Roses
16th August 2006, 03:14 AM
Everyone gets the option of Knowlege (local) huh? ... :?: feeling like a dumbass ... where does it say that. I am going to have to re-read the thing top to bottom, but I just can't find the reference in the PHB or DMG to hand.[/b]
No, no, everyone in the Sea of Stars campaign (including fighters) get Knowledge (local) as a class skill. You did not miss anything in the core rules.

Sunfist:
Do people come back from the dead in Dragonlance? I have only read one collection of DL short stories.

Gryphon
16th August 2006, 07:29 AM
:bagjob: DOH

Sunfist
16th August 2006, 06:40 PM
Sunfist:
Do people come back from the dead in Dragonlance? I have only read one collection of DL short stories.
[/b]
Aye, laddie. Several people come back from being dead some of them a few times. It's not always a "perfect ressurection" but a lot of peeps have come back.

theunknownreturns
30th October 2006, 08:05 PM
I verily despise true resurrections. That's why I want to use the savage coast setting. Since my players only know what I tell them, hehehehe, I tell them that the vermiel of the red dessert defuncts such spells. Any type of res can only be performed within the confines of a sactified monastary (lots of money/ not common). When I do allow res their are special stipulations. Ever watch the conana movies? I make you fight the spirits and denziens of hell over your fallen friend's body. There is also the theory of even exchange. If you come back something else does too. It could be your polor opposite set to destroy you, a disembodied spirit bound to you that you must resolve to ever know peace again, or you standard nightmare from hell freed upon the material plain the do as it sees fit.
My personal fav creations is the grey slayer. Sort of like a faceless, sexless flesh golem made in the dawn of time. When the great spirits decided things should stay dead they made this thing, and it's terminator style, almost indestructable. Being a flesh golem it became possessed. Only freed upon the res of someone, it takes inordanite glee in tracking, terrorizing and killing it's target. Being with no distinguishing features, it can kill people and wear their skin like a glove. It does so to interact withothers to gather info. Mostly it does this to torture the vic with the face of a loved one. I used one time at a bar the PC's frequented with a granny like care taker. the creature took her 'costume', but (purposefully) waited too long so the flesh began sagging and falling off. As they all notice she says 'oh my' and and launches into an attack. Nothing is more troubling than knowing you about to get you butt kicked in your jammies.
As for miricale and wish, I ban them as you know them. I do the DBZ thing, or I allow only one crystal in the world powerful enough to cast it. Or you have to adventure to some ungodly place and find the original scriptures or scroll. It ain't easy, but you earn it and you usually get exactly what you want for your troubles, too. I hate screw you over wishes, why don't you just ban them instead? (for those that do that)

Knight of Roses
6th November 2006, 12:37 AM
Probably because they are part of my character generation document and therefore stored in a separate file . . .